The first rural business people are participants in a TACIS project for which the European Union has allocated 250,000 euros. This money and experts from Finland and Ireland helped compile recommendations for furnishing such hotels, providing services and defining the costs. Some money went to perfect four model "rural mansions"-ordinary village cottages refit for the reception of tourists. Each host received 3,500 euros for supplying a special guest room with running water, a biotoilet and household appliances not inferior to those in similar hotels in Finland and Ireland where Karelian landowners went to borrow experience.
The tourism business pioneers have united into an association which helps its members to search for clients and to train novices. These rural hotels are expected to accommodate Russians and Finns who often come to Karelia for recreation.
Last summer such a well-appointed rural mansion charged an average of 1,000 roubles a day for bed and board.
"We offer a program to acquaint the guests with rural life, that is growing crops, stacking hay, listening to folk songs and socializing with local dwellers," said Pyotr Potashev, the owner of a rural cottage in the village of Pyalma.
There are 38 such private hotels in Karelia to top 100 in 2005 and to have an addition of not less than 300 in the next two or three years.
